Happy Holidays

We had a pretty good Christmas this year. Tyler was excited about Santa and about getting presents, so that was fun to see his excitement. On Christmas Eve we went and saw The Princess and the Frog with my family. Tyler did a pretty good job during the movie. We haven't taken him to a movie for like over a year, so we weren't sure how well he would do, but he did good. He liked sitting in the isle and dancing, but besides that he did good. Josh even did good. He starting out sleeping in his car seat, but then after like 10 minutes he woke up and then was awake for the whole thing. He must have liked seeing all the colors from the show. Maybe we could do that again sometime soon.
After the movie we went to my parents house and had a yummy Christmas dinner. My mom decided that she doesn't like cooking all day on Christmas, so now we eat our dinner on Christmas Eve. It works out pretty nice. After dinner we went over to Tony's parents house for the Kresser Family party. We got to see lots of Tony's extended family and eat some more yummy food. After dinner the kids had a gift exchange. Tyler liked his present so much that he carried it around all night and we opened it as soon as we got home that night. Then we had an adult white elephant game that was way fun. Their was lots of stealing and that made it fun. I got a head pillow and Tony got a table baseball game thing. So pretty good stuff. After the extended family left, Tony's mom gave the kids some pajama's to wear for the night. So we changed both boys and they really liked the pajama's. Then we went home and Tyler played with his new basketball hoop toy and loved it.
Then we put the boys to bed and then Santa came that night. When Tyler woke up in the morning Tony asked him if Santa came, and he got really excited and said, "Santa came." Then he started grabbing presents and we had to stop him so that we could look for names on the gifts. He opened his presents and really seemed to like them all. It was fun to see his cute face opening the gifts. Then we watched Curious George "Monkey Christmas" while Tyler played with his toys. After that was over we got ready to go over to my parents house. My parents had some fun gifts for the boys and for us and then we had some yummy food. Tyler got more tools and just loves them. After we were there for a couple of hours we went over to Tony's parents and spent some time there. They got us a Wii and the boys some Church cloths and toys. We also got some fun cookie making supplies. It was fun hanging out with them and seeing what everyone got. The kids all seemed to like their gifts and were really happy. Grandma did good.
Then we all went over to Tony's grandpa's house to see him and his wife. The boys had fallen asleep in the car, so I stayed in the car so that they could sleep some more. After Tony was there for about 30 minutes he came back and we went home. Tyler was really anxious to go home and play with his new tent and other toys. It was a busy and fun day. We are so grateful for all that we have been given and all that we were able to give. I am so glad that we live close to both of our families and that we can spend time with both of them each holiday. We are so lucky and blessed!

Parties are fun

Yesterday we had our first annual Willis Family Christmas Party. It was lots of fun. We all met at my parents house and had some food and then played a white elephant game. It was an especially fun game this time because lots of people stole presents from others and that always makes it more fun. I was nice to see some cousins and to have my grandpa and his wife in town. I hope that this is something that we can continue to do every year at Christmas time.

On Saturday we had our annual friend Christmas party. It was lots of fun too. Heather hosted the party at her house this year and did a great job. Their were about 16 of us this year and most people left their kids with sitters, so it was nice to be able to chat and not worry about kids running around. We ate some good food and played the white elephant game there too. It wasn't as fun because no one really stole from others. I guess that means that we need to bring better gifts next year. It is always nice to have this party every year so that we can see friends from high school and find out what everyone is doing.

I am going to get my hair cut today and I am very excited about that. It is just too long and it is driving me nuts. Plus my hair is falling out from the pregnancy and it is just annoying finding long hairs everywhere, so I am going to have her cut a couple inches off at least. I am also going to have her put in low lights so that I can start going back to my natural color (whatever that is -- it has been a long time since I have seen it). I hope that I like it and then can stop highlighting my hair and just go natural. I guess we shall see.

The Bumbo is funbo...

We have been wanting to get Josh a Bumbo for a while now because he just loves to sit up. He has been holding his head up pretty good for a while, so have been looking on KSL Classified to see if we could buy a used one. A new one is like $40 and we got a used one for $20. It is in good condition, so we are happy with it...and so is Josh. He looks so big when he is in there. He's is just three months old, so he doesn't stay in it for very long. But it is nice to put him in there so that he can see everyone and be able to get things done.
I gave him one of Tyler's wrenches to hold and he did really good holding it for a while. They grow and learn so quickly. I guess it is time to pull out the baby toys.
Tyler has really been enjoying the Christmas season. He loves the Christmas tree and seeing all the lights. He really loved going with Tony to hand out our neighbor gifts. He told all of them Merry Christmas and then came back and wanted to do more. I was very glad that he liked to give gifts and not just receive them. He is such a sweet and awesome kid - now if he would just listen a little better he would be perfect. It keeps me humble, that is for sure. It will be really fun to see Tyler's face on Christmas morning and see him enjoying his gifts. I think that I will take Tyler to go and pick out a gift for Josh from Tyler so that he continues to learn about giving. A very important message, especially this time of year.

Family fun

We went and got our family pictures taken at Sears the other day. Josh did a really good job and we got this really cute picture. Tyler, however, did not do well and we only got one not so good picture of the family. So we had to take what we had and Tyler just looks like he is misbehaving in the picture, the rest of us look pretty good I think. The really sad part is that we didn't get any pictures with Tyler and Josh or with just Tyler. So that really sucked. Tyler just would not have any of it and just cried. I was not very happy with him, but there was nothing that we could do to get him to take a good picture. Maybe next year he will do better.

It is currently snowing and it is really pretty. I really do love the snow. I totally think that if it is going to be cold, which is has been freezing, then it might as well snow. Tyler really likes the snow too. I can totally see him loving skiing and snowmobiling. Really anything outside, he just loves. I am glad that he is a happy active kid.

We went to my parents ward's Christmas party last night and had a good time. Tyler was really excited to see Santa, but then when it was his turn to sit on his lap, he didn't want anything to do with him. He wouldn't even look at him. Once again Josh did a really good job and sat with Santa nicely. I found out later that Santa was my friend Blaine from high school. Funny thing to think about. It was nice to see old faces and a lot of new ones. I figure I will always be an 11th warder, so we can go and eat their food and enjoy time with the family.

The other night we put Josh in the corner of the couch to sit up and hang out and then I noticed him leaning so I looked a little closer and I found that he had fallen asleep. So cute. He is a pretty good sleeper for the most part. I didn't used to swaddle him and he wasn't the best sleeper, but then I listened to some friends and have found that he really likes to be swaddled, especially at night. He still wakes two times a night to eat, generally about 2:30 am and about 6:00 am. Sometimes he will go to 6:30 or 7:00, so that would be nice if we just had the one feeding. We will have to work on that.